CHALLENGES
After its 2013 Congress, SIU found itself “soul-searching” to “make this meeting a ‘must’ on [physicians’] professional agendas,” SIU Congress Director Valérie Guillet said. That included reducing the time attendees spend away from their practices — so SIU condensed the program from five days to four. “Conducting the exercise of removing a day helped our scientific committee to focus on the must-have issues,” Guillet said, “and make the meeting leaner and more efficient.”
It was “a 180-degree improvement” over SIU’s previous take-home programs.
INITIATIVES
New initiatives included a virtual learning component, revamped formats, a uTech Bar, and Take-Home Tweet project. While attendance at the hands-on uTech Bar was disappointing, more-interactive session formats drew standing-room-only audiences, and the Take-Home Tweet project generated 25,000 Twitter mentions. It was “a 180-degree improvement” over SIU’s previous take-home programs, Guillet said. “A definite keeper for our group.”
Oct. 12–15, 2014
Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC)
Glasgow
2,661 Attendees
40 Exhibitors
2013 Vancouver:
2,524 Attendees
31 Exhibitors
Convene’s Pre-Con/Post-Con series asks meeting planners about their challenges and how they intend to address them (Pre-Con), and then circles back around after the meeting has occurred (Post-Con) to see how well they worked out.
